JPH02129737A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time and the trouble for investigating a fault by reading out information required for analyzing the fault from address in which fault information is stored and displaying it on a display device. CONSTITUTION:When a microprocessor 1 falls into a state of what it called a stall, etc. and a fault is generated on an operation of an apparatus, when a user turns on a switch 3, the microprocessor 1 receives an interruption, and the microprocessor 1 displays an internal state, etc. on a display device 5. Also, when the user operates a switch 4 and selects an address of a memory 6, the microprocessor 1 reads out information from an address, and displays it on the display device 5. In such a way, information required for analyzing a fault is displayed on the display device. Therefore, the time and the trouble for investigating a fault are shortened, and the cause is detected exactly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an information processing device, and particularly to microcomputer application equipment such as printers and computers.

Traditionally, when a failure such as a so-called stall occurs in microcomputer-applied equipment such as printers, the status of the equipment's lamps and displays at the time the failure occurs, and the process that led to the failure, etc. The cause of the disorder was investigated only by investigating external factors.

However, the above-mentioned microprocessor application R8 has a drawback in that when an attempt is made to infer the cause of a failure from the external circumstances at the time of occurrence of the failure, the inferred cause may be inaccurate.

In addition, if the cause cannot be inferred from the situation in which the failure occurred, use microprocessor development equipment such as an in-circuit emulator at the device development site to reproduce the failure situation and examine the internal state of the device. It was necessary to investigate the cause. Therefore, there is a drawback that it takes a lot of time and effort to solve the problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device that can shorten the time and effort required to investigate a failure and accurately discover the cause.

The information processing device of the present invention includes: storage means for storing fault information regarding a fault within the information processing device at a predetermined address; and address designation means for specifying an address of the storage means.
The apparatus is characterized by comprising a fault information reading means for reading out the fault information from the address specified by the address specifying means, and a display means for displaying the fault information read by the reading means.

x1 week Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 shows a case where the present invention is used in a printer. is microprocessor 1 and memory 6
, I10 boat 2, display 5, switches 3 and 4
It is composed of:

The microprocessor 1 detects that a switch 4 connected via the I10 board 2 is operated by the user, controls equipment, and displays a message for the user on the display 5.

The memory 6 is used to write various information used when the microprocessor operates. That information includes flags and variables used by the program, and even the return address by which the program returns from the subroutine.

Information is written into this memory 6 when a memory write signal is sent from the microprocessor.

The display 5 may be of any type, such as a 7-segment LED or an LCD (liquid crystal display), as long as it can display at least the numbers 0 to 9 and the alphabets A to F.

Switch 3 is used for troubleshooting (
This switch is used to activate the troubleshooting function (fault tracking), and should preferably be installed in a location that is not normally touched by general users.One end of this switch 3 is connected to the microprocessor and connected via a resistor. connected to power,
The other end is grounded.

The switch 4 is configured using, for example, a well-known DIP type switch, and one end is connected to the microprocessor 1 via the I10 port 2 and to the power supply via a resistor, and fl! ! The end is grounded.

This switch 4 is provided to specify an address within the memory 3.

In such a configuration, if the microprocessor 1 falls into a so-called stall state and a failure occurs in the operation of the aa, the user turns on the switch 3 connected to the interrupt input of the microprocessor 1.
Microprocessor 1 receives an interrupt. Then, the microprocessor 1 displays the internal status etc. on the display 5.

Further, when the user operates the switch 4 and selects an address in the memory 6, the microprocessor 1 reads information from the address and displays it on the display 5.

By doing so, it is extremely easy to know in detail the information inside the device or the microprocessor 1 that is necessary for the failure, which is very effective in investigating the cause of the failure.

Next, a display example on the display 5 will be explained using FIGS. 2 and 3. Figure 2 shows an example of displaying information inside the memory 6. Figure 1 shows the address 8026 of the memory 6.
(It shows that the data A7 (old) is stored at the old address.

On the other hand, Figure 3 is an example of displaying information in the internal register of microprocessor 1. Figure 0 shows that information 38A6 (H) is stored in internal register A of microprocessor 1. .

In other words, according to this embodiment, the information necessary for failure analysis can be displayed on the display, the time and effort of failure investigation can be shortened, and the cause can be accurately discovered.

Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the cause of the failure can be investigated without using any special measuring equipment.

In this embodiment, a switch is used to specify the memory address, but it is clear that the same effect can be obtained by specifying the address from a host device or the like via an interface instead.

As described above, the present invention has the effect of reducing the time and effort required to investigate a fault by displaying the information necessary for fault analysis on a display.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams showing display examples of a display device. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1...Microprocessor 3.4...Switch 5--Display 6...Memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A storage means for storing fault information regarding a fault within the information processing device at a predetermined address, an addressing means for specifying an address of the storage means, and a storage means for storing the fault information from the address specified by the addressing means. An information processing apparatus comprising: a failure information reading means for reading out; and a display means for displaying the failure information read by the reading means.